Pan flashing with sill wedge

ABSTRACT

The subject invention provides a component which improves upon the overall function of sill pan flashing, specifically the use of a novel sill wedge that promotes drainage of water from the sill pan. The novel sill wedge is made from polyethylene foam, a flexible material in a unique configuration, which also provides support for the bottom of the sill pan. Accordingly, the sill wedge can be effectively extruded into a double wedge, continuous roll, shrink wrapped and shipped in rolls thus allowing for easy cutting to length in the field, improving performance of the pan flashing while also addressing shipping, storage and installation issues.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is closely related to Ser. No. 09/692,226, filed on Oct. 26, 2000 entitled, Multi-Component Flashing Systems, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,401 and Ser. No. 09/777,844, filed on Feb. 07, 2001, entitled, Pre-Folded Flashing This application is closely related to Ser. No. 09/692,226, filed on Oct. 26, 2000, Systems and Method, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,402, both by the same inventor as the subject application and also another earlier patent entitled Multi-Component Elastomeric Materials For A Building Flashing System issued to Williams et al, as U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,026 on May 4, 1999, pending application Ser. No. 10/200,259 filed on Jul. 23, 2002 entitled, Integrated System For Controlling Water Intrusion and Air Movement Through Exterior Wall Construction by Mark F. Williams and pending applications Ser. No. 10/670,318 filed on Sep. 26, 2003, entitled MULTI-UNIT TERMINATION ACCESSORY FLASHING and pending application Ser. No. ______, filed on ______, entitled Pan Flashing With Sill Wedge and Window Clip, both pending applications invented by the same inventor, Mark F. Williams.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As has been pointed out in several of the above noted patent applications, air and moisture penetration in and around window, door and louver rough openings, is one of the construction industry's most serious problems. Damage caused by infiltration of air and moisture at rough openings, and the problem of mold and fungi with their own special set of consequences, has been increasingly recognized over the past several years.

As a result of these problems, there is an aggressive effort by many to improve upon the products and installation techniques that are currently in use. Several of the above-noted related applications deal with the flashing of rough window openings using a special formulated silicone sealing adhesive in combination with a particular sheet flashing material that the silicone sealing adhesive readily bonded to form watertight joints in and around rough window openings and other openings such as rough door openings.

The Williams, '401 patent noted above deals primarily with a preformed termination accessory that can be used in any one of the four corners of a rough opening. However, its use would most commonly be used at the lower bottom corners where the same accessory can be used in any of the lower or upper corners merely by rotating the accessory unit ninety degrees. The Williams '401 patent also discloses the use a clay coated flashing material that is used in conjunction with an elastomeric adhesive sealant that readily bonds with the clay coated flashing material.

The Williams '402 patent discloses a pre-folded flashing system and Williams et al, '026 discloses the use of both liquid and solid forms of flashing material. Pending Williams application Ser. No. 10/200,259 discloses an integrated system wherein a variety of exterior sheathing panels, i.e. foam boards, foil-faced board, cementitious based boards, are exteriorly treated with an elastomeric membrane-like material and the joints therebetween are taped with clay coated adhesive backed taped. Williams pending application Ser. No. 10/670,318 deals primarily with a multi-unit termination accessory flashing that is manufactured in molded units of four that are separable and individually used in rough opening corners similar to the termination accessory units of the Williams, '401 patent.

As can be seen from a review of the above noted patents and pending applications, solving the problems associated with air and moisture penetration continues to be a work in progress. The subject invention is an extension of the prior attempts to resolve this serious problem. In the present application there is disclosed a sill wedge that is installed beneath the sill pan flashing. Previous to this invention, when a sill wedge was used, it was constructed from rigid plastic or wood. Both of these materials had many drawbacks; consequently, the usage of sill wedges has been limited. Pan flashings are a proven method of managing unwanted water at rough openings in the building enclosure. However, providing slope for the pan flashing can pose certain unique challenges. These challenges are solved by using WillFlash® Sill Wedge which is flexible enough to be coiled on a roll to facilitate shipping, yet is firm enough to provide a base for the sill pan itself. This wedge solves many problems by supporting a sill pan self-adhering membrane and directing water from the sill pan towards the building exterior; yet because it is not rigid, it may be conveniently coiled for storage and/or shipment. Furthermore, the sill wedge material itself may be easily cut and trimmed with scissors or a utility knife, which helps to speed installations. Additionally, it has been found that the sill wedge may be most efficiently manufactured by extruding two polyethylene sill wedges simultaneously, in a “tip to tip” configuration. This reduces the manufacturing costs because two wedges are simultaneously fabricated. Furthermore, the two wedge profile is symmetrical, which also benefits the coiling of sill wedge on a roll. The symmetrical profile will roll consistently; whereas, a single wedge profile rolls unevenly onto the shipping spool. Therefore, the “two wedge profile” may be rolled upon itself without the need for a spool, further reducing the cost of packaging and transport.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As indicated above, the subject invention provides a component which improves upon the overall function of sill pan flashing, specifically the use of a novel sill wedge that promotes drainage of water from the sill pan. The novel sill wedge is made from polyethylene foam, a flexible material in a unique configuration, which also provides support for the bottom of the sill pan. Accordingly, the sill wedge can be effectively extruded into a double wedge, continuous roll, shrink wrapped and shipped in rolls thus allowing for easy cutting to length in the field, improving performance of the pan flashing while also addressing shipping and installation issues.

DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART

A recent search of the Patent Office files in the appropriate Classes and subclasses revealed the following prior art documents.

-   U.S. Pat. No. 2,472,216—issued to Kasik on Jun. 7, 1949—discloses a     window stop 20 in the shape of a wedge. Stop 20 is used to on a     window sash to permit opening the window any desired amount. -   U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,176—issued to Cresci on Aug. 23, 1994—discloses     a window wedge that is used as a stop for a sliding type window such     as a double hung window. -   U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,940—issued to Bruchu on Feb. 20, 1996—discloses     a variable angle wedge that supports a replacement window and     compensates for whatever sill angle exists on the previous window     frame -   US 2002/0146539—application of Dwinell published on Oct. 10,     2002—discloses a window stabilizing device including a wedge portion     dimensioned for being positioned between a lower edge of a window     and a corresponding window frame or sill.

In addition to this known patent prior art, there has also been activity in the field by a company entitled Vinyl Corp.that published a 2004 PRODUCT DATA CATALOG, 3 pages, that includes a product called PB SLOPED SILL WEDGE and contains a statement, “Sloped Sill Wedge—Trim component used to provide a positive slope over the sill to direct intruding water to the outside face of weather-resistive barrier for drainage out of the system. This is not a flashing use in combination with a water-managed system.” Additionally, there is a second publication, a one page article entitled, CANT LEAK SILL GUARD TM WINDOW DRAINAGE SYSTEM by Protecto Wrap Company that refers to a patent pending window sill drainage system for use in new and remodeling construction. This publication is rather weak in its description of the product and serves more or less as an advertising brochure for the product without much detail as to the product per se and its manner of use.

As can be seen from a review of this known prior art, i.e. patent documents, there are a variety of wedge devices that are used in their customary manner, i.e. the tapered end of the wedge is inserted between a pair of elements to provide a bias therebetween and prevent “rattling” or serve as a “stop” between two relatively moveable members. However, none of the known prior art “wedges” are used in combination with a “pan flashing” member to provide sufficient elevation to the rear end of the pan flashing member thus allowing gravitational flow of any moisture in the area to move forward and exit the building structure. The two known non-patent publications, both indicate an awareness of the problems in this particular area, however, they both attempt to solve the problem in a different manner.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to improve the drainage performance of pan flashing that is utilized to control the intrusion of water below a window, door or louver in the sill area.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sill wedge that is made of a suitable density polyethylene foam which is flexible enough to be coiled on a roll to facilitate shipping.

A further object of the invention is to provide a suitable density polyethylene foam that is firm enough to provide a base for the sill pan itself.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a suitable density polyethylene foam that may be cut and trimmed with scissors or a utility knife to improve the speed of installation.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a unique double width configuration for the sill wedge to reduce manufacturing costs and aid coiling of the sill wedge material onto a consistent roll.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent hereinafter. The instant invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters designate the corresponding parts throughout the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a window rough opening illustrating the components and sequence of their installation in flashing a window rough opening.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a coil of sill wedge material as shipped from the factory.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the plane 3-3 of FIG. 2, prior to severing into useful individual sill wedge components.

FIG. 4 is portion of sill wedge material after it has been severed from the roll followed by a central split to form an individual sill wedge member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an exploded view of a rough opening 25 comprised of the usual header 26, side jambs 27 and sill portion 28. As illustrated, sill wedge 29 is about to be placed over rough opening sill portion 28 to provide some elevation to the rear end of rough opening sill portion 28 to allow easy outward draining of any moisture that might collect on pan flashing member 30 when installed over sill wedge 29. Pan flashing member is comprised of a sill portion 32 with an upstanding rear lip portion or back darn 33 that extends the full width of window rough opening 28. Additionally, pan flashing 30 includes a forward apron portion 30A that extends downward across the frontal face of the building structure and a pair of oppositely disposed panel portions 34 that would extend across the frontal face of the jamb portions (not shown). Inasmuch as the pan flashing 30 is made of self-adhering material, once the release paper material is removed, it can readily be affixed to the rough opening over the sill wedge 29. Upon completion of the installation of pan flashing member 30, a pair of pre-molded Comer Accessory Pieces 35 (CAPs) are installed in the lower left and right-hand corners over the pan flashing member 30. These CAPs 35 in combination with rear lip portion 33 cooperate to form the side and end dams for sill pan 30. After installation of CAPs 35 in their respective corners, a strip seal 36 (a self-adhering flashing) is placed over the right-most edge of the CAP 35 overlying a portion of CAP 35 and also pan flashing sill portion 32 to seal the edge therebeneath. It is to be noted that the rear end of strip seal 36 (a self-adhering flashing) extends rearward to the point where it wraps over the back dam giving it added strength in that area. Next, outer seal 37, (a self-adhering flashing) is placed over strip seal 36 and also the horizontal leg portion of CAP 35 to complete the sealing of the rough window opening 25.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is shown a roll of sill wedge 50, as shown, the sill wedge material 29 has been rolled into a reasonably sized roll of material for shipping purposes after it has come out of the extruder and cooled sufficiently. As shown the polyethylene foam has been extruded into a double wedge configuration 29A and 29B, with their tapered tips meeting along the imaginary centerline 29CL. As pointed out earlier, the main advantage of this “double wedge configuration” is that it provides symmetry relative to centerline 29CL and provides balance to the product allowing it to become free-standing when rolled as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a sectional view taken along the plane 3-3 of FIG. 2 illustrating the “double wedge” configuration referred to above. As indicated earlier, this “double wedge” provides balance during the extrusion process and also during shipment of the finished product. The second wedge provides an equalizing or stabilizing force when combined with the first wedge and permits unsupported standing of a roll. As one can imagine, these features greatly enhance the shipping and handling features of the product.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the sill wedge material 29 shown in FIG. 3, however, in this view, the material has been cut along the centerline 29CL and in preparation for insertion into a rough window opening as illustrated in FIG. 1.

While the invention has been described in its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the words which have been used are words of description rather than words of limitation and that changes may be made within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the full scope or spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is to be limited only by the appended claims, and not by the foregoing specification. 

1. A combination of flashing elements for reducing the penetration of water around a rough opening with a window, door or louver installed therein, said combination comprising: a rough opening including a header, side jambs and a rough opening sill plate; a sill wedge member installed across said sill plate; a pan flashing member installed across the width of the opening above said sill plate with said sill wedge member therebeneath; said pan flashing member comprising a self-adhesive backed flashing installed across the rough opening with vertical slits at the jamb studs folded into the rough opening over said sill wedge and terminating in a back dam; a pair of preformed corner accessory pieces having a pair of legs installed in the lower corners of the rough window opening with one leg installed over said pan flashing member and the other leg in abutting relation with said window side jambs; self-adhesive strip seals are placed over the sill edge of each of the corner accessory pieces which effectively combines to prevent moisture leakage into the building at this locale.
 2. A combination of flashing components as defined in claim 1 wherein said sill wedge is an extruded polyethylene foam shape that is tapered across its width to promote drainage of water from the interior portion of the pan flashing towards the building's exterior.
 3. A combination of flashing elements as defined in claim 2 wherein said polyethylene foam sill wedge is of a density that is flexible enough to be coiled into a roll.
 4. A combination of flashing elements as defined In claim 3 wherein said polyethylene foam sill wedge is of a density that is firm enough to support the sill pan.
 5. A combination of flashing elements as defined in claim 4 wherein the polyethylene foam sill wedge can be easily cut and trimmed with scissors or a utility knife.
 6. A combination of flashing components as defined in claim 5 wherein said polyethylene foam sill wedge is extruded in a single width.
 7. A combination of flashing components as defined in claim 5 wherein said polyethylene foam sill wedge is extruded in a double width to facilitate coiling, shipping and reduce manufacturing costs.
 8. A sill wedge for supporting a rough opening pan flashing comprising extruded polyethylene foam that is sloped across its width to create a wedge shape.
 9. A sill wedge for supporting a pan flashing as defined in claim 8 wherein said wedge shape is extruded as a single width.
 10. A sill wedge for supporting a pan flashing as defined in claim 8 wherein said wedge shape is extruded in a double width form for ease of shipping and storage.
 11. A sill wedge made of extruded polyethylene foam into a double wedge; each wedge of said double wedge having a high rear end and a forward extending taper ending in a forward tip of diminished height; said double wedge extruded with said forward tip of each wedge in contact with the forward tip of the opposite wedge thus forming said double wedge of substantial width allowing the free-standing of a roll of said double wedge.
 12. A sill wedge as defined in claim 11 wherein said extruded double wedge has an imaginary centerline whereby said double wedge may be cut along said imaginary centerline into a pair of single sill wedge members. 